can't fight the family genes....

this wedding day photo of me was recently uploaded on facebook from one of my wonderful bridesmaids. (i cropped out my mom because i knew she'd make a comment if she found out i was "blogging" pictures of her...).

so then my sister sent me this photo of ellie at the state fair last week.

my husband's response? "wow, you have an incredibly expressive family...."

i'm not sure if it is the parent or child initiating the expressions, but either way...it runs in the family!

a cupcake affair

so we celebrated my niece's 1st birthday this sunday. and my sister went all out - making her a tutu and dedicating the day to a full-blown cupcake theme. all the food served was modeled after a cupcake - and it all actually tasted pretty good (sorry sister, but you have to admit some had the potential to taste funny in cupcake form!)

all in all, it was a great time with a great turnout. i think she loved pretty aunt kelly (and uncle brandt's) gifts the best - after all, one of the sippie cups had "do-do" on it...which is her combination of "dog" and "milo", whom she just loves hanging out with!

looks like ellie loves her birthday and will begin celebrating it for a month soon enough like her pretty aunt kelly :)

i thought i would share some pictures with you to see how stinkin' cute she is. this is again where i insert the plug for a better camera...this was my sisters, but you can see how it just doesn't capture life's moments like a cannon SLR....

i just love baby legs!
there is a noise that goes with this face, which makes it even more precious!

"ohhhhhh" is what she said for everything

pretty girl